Pakistan: Sindh govt accuses Imran Khan's PTI of stealing province's water share

Amid the water crisis in Pakistan's Sindh province, the Pakistan Peoples Party's (PPP) Sindh President Nisar Ahmed Khuhro called a meeting of the provincial executive committee to decide on a plan of action against the injustice being meted out by the Indus River System Authority (IRSA) and the Prime Minister Imran Khan-led Centre.

Addressing a press conference, Sindh Agriculture Minister Ismail Rahoo accused the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-led government at the Centre of stealing Sindh's water share, reported The Express Tribune.

He also dismissed allegations of Sindh encroaching on Balochistan's water share and said that it was the Punjab province, which is stealing the water of both provinces. He also claimed that Sindh was supplying water to Balochistan by reducing its own share.

Slamming the federal government for its mismanagement, Rahoo said that agricultural fields were ravaged by locusts but the federal government did not extend any help, while the lack of water is affecting the sugarcane crop the costs of pesticides, tractors and fertilisers have also increased.

The province has faced water shortages in the past but this federal government is indifferent to the plight of Sindh's farmers, stressed Rahoo.

He also claimed that the federal government had vowed to export rice crop worth USD 2.5 billion but managed to export only USD 1.5 billion of rice crop in the past nine months, The Express Tribune reported.

Continuing on the plight of growers, the minister said that the Sindh government had requested the federal government for relief in calamity-hit areas and had asked that loans payable by farmers be waived. However, the federal government did not pay heed.

Meanwhile, the Sindh government has blamed IRSA and the federal government for violating the Water Apportionment Accord 1991, but the IRSA has maintained that the water shortage was due to a lack of water in the rivers.

Amid the rising population and climate change, the availability of freshwater is becoming worrisome in South Asia, particularly in Pakistan, which may face absolute water scarcity by 2040.

According to a Washington-based magazine, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has placed Pakistan at the third position in the list of countries facing acute water scarcity. Moreover, the per capita availability of fresh water in Pakistan has fallen below the water scarcity threshold (1,000 cubic meters), which was 3,950 cubic meters in 1961 and 1600 in 1991.

( With inputs from ANI )